Wizard of New Zealand

The Wizard of New Zealand
The Wizard speaking in Cathedral Square in December 2006
Birth name	Ian Brackenbury Channell
Born	(1932-12-04) 4 December 1932 (age 84) London, England
Nationality	New Zealand
Website	wizard.gen.nz

The Wizard of New Zealand QSM (born Ian Brackenbury Channell; 4 December 1932) is a New Zealand educator, comedian, magician and politician.

Ian Brackenbury Channell was born on 4 December 1932 in London. Educated at Framlingham College, in 1951–53 he served in the Royal Air Force as an airman and in 1963 he graduated from the University of Leeds with a double honours degree in psychology and sociology. Shortly afterwards, he was recruited by the University of Western Australia Adult Education Board to run their community arts programme. In 1967 he joined the teaching staff of the newly opened School of Sociology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

During the student upheavals, which began at this time, he created a direct action reform movement called Alf (Action for Love and Freedom) and implemented this with what he announced to be "The Fun Revolution". The result was a revitalisation of the university referred to in the Sydney Morning Herald as "the university that swings".

His head of department, convinced he was mad, dismissed him without consultation for insufficient progress in his thesis in the sociology of art. The Vice Chancellor, Rupert Myers offered to do all he could and in 1969 Channell, who wanted to stay on campus and continue his social experiments, was able to persuade the VC to appoint him official University Wizard with a small honorarium paid jointly by the University Administration and the Student Union. He began to experiment with his own identity and allowed his driving licence, social security ID, passport and other important documents to lapse. After travelling to the World University Service headquarters in Geneva he received their backing to travel round Australian universities to promote his new revitalisation movement.